Top 10 home baking brands by value: sugar takes a hit
Top 10 home baking brands by value 
     
  Value (£m) % change
Tate & Lyle 63.0 -6.5%
Silver Spoon 55.4 -1.7%
Whitworths 41.2 -1.5%
Betty Crocker 29.9 -3.5%
Billingtons Sugar 16.5 2.6%
Dr Oetker 13.8 2.3%
Canderel 13.1 2.6%
Lyles 12.4 -4.3%
McDougalls 10.3 -3.7%
Allinson 9.7 4.6%
     
     
Source: Nielsen, 52 w/e 18 May 2019  

Six of the top 10 home baking brands suffered value declines this year according to Nielsen data, which encompasses sales of yeast, flavourings, sweet baking mixes and toppings, as shoppers spent less on the category and turned to alternative products such as non-refined sugar or sweeteners.


“Last year’s sugar tax and the growing awareness of the impact of sugar on health is driving consumers to reconsider their sugar intake,” says Nielsen analyst Alice Auduon.

“That’s driven many to look for alternative sweetening products, which has meant a rise in the use of products like stevia instead of sugar.”


That movement is evidenced by the £300k gain enjoyed by low-calorie sugar alternative brand Canderel this year.


Billington’s is another brand benefiting from changing habits, accruing an extra £400k in sales of its unrefined cane sugars.


On the flipside, traditional sugar brand Tate & Lyle took the hardest hit among the top brands, losing £4.4m in sales. The brand says the continued decline in sugar has been an issue for several years, but maintains a turnaround may be on the cards as interest in premium sugar variants grows.


Allinson’s attributes its extra £400k in sales to distribution gains across the mults, as well as the launch of its 500g format. That translated into an extra 130,000 shoppers, says the brand. It plans to maintain growth with a continued focus on innovations like its new Time Saver Yeast and flavoured bread additions, which launched this year.

Home baking value sales: falling flat
Failure to rise: Home baking sectors by value sales 
     
  Value (£m) % change
  Snacking Fruit & Nuts   220.3 -1.4
  Other Baking Ingredients   126.2 2.3
  Sugar   124.6 -1.6
  Baking Fruits   117.5 -5.1
  Flour   95.2 -2.0
  Cake Coverings   11.0 -11.2
     
     
Source: Kantar 52 w/e 24 March 2019  
     
Brands vs Own Label    
  Value (£m) % change
Brands 302.9 -1.4
Own Label 391.9 -1.9
     
     
Retailer performance    
  Category value share % change
Tesco 26.1 -5.5
Asda 11.2 -1.1
Sainsbury's 15.8 -1.8
Morrisons 9.1 4.2
Aldi 6.7 3.7
Lidl 7.2 9.1

The value of the home baking market has slipped 1.7% to £694.8m. Shoppers buying less often is the key driver of decline.
Total grocery prices may have risen 1.1% this year, but average prices within home baking remain flat.


That’s down to steady base prices and a 2.3% increase in the level of promotions, which mostly took the form of price cuts.
Share between brands and own label remains stable, with the latter holding 56% of spend.


However, own label sales have declined at a faster rate than brands, with increased promotional activity driving value out of own label sectors.


Brands have been more active in NPD compared with own label over the past year, launching 23 new ranges (compared with seven launched by retailers over the same period). However, own label NPD has outperformed its branded counterpart, bringing in £9.2m versus £1.6m for brands.


Tertiary brands The Grower’s Harvest and Stockwell & Co, which launched in Tesco last May, have contributed £8m to the category.


Amber Trott,
Kantar